Well, the day is finally here. Been looking forward to this race since I missed out on it last year. 10 miles straight down Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA. No hills, no turns, just one building to run around (City Hall) in the middle of the city. The race starts on one side of the city, and runs straight through downtown, ending up in the Navy Yard.
I had everything ready to go:
ipod....check
headphones....check
camera (and batteries)....check
race shirt....check
race bib....check
sneakers....check
socks.....check
running shorts.....uh oh!
In my hurry to get down and park (so I can stand around for an hour), I forgot to pack mesh shorts. I had to run in khaki shorts. D'oh! Oh well, at least I looked like one of the preppiest runners.
The race starts at 8:30am. The city provides free parking down in the Sports Complex. Runners then take either school buses to the start, or can take an express subway (which is what I did). A 20 minute ride free of charge.
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| Wells Fargo Center at 6:45am |
So I get to the start about an hour before the race (7:30 am). Already, thousands of people were there.
And I met up with Rob and Heather Tracey. I saw Rob at the Expo 2 days ago, and we decided to meet up before the race.
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| Rob and Heather |
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| Heather and me |
and then I ran into some friends I have not seen since before my Christopher was born. Lauren and Andy Turton. It was really great to see them. Lauren was running for "Team McGraw" (thats right, the Tugger himself). Andy was there for support, but will hopefully be able to run with us next year. Again, great to see them both.
The first wave went off at 8:30. I didn't cross the starting line until 20 minutes later.
The starting line
and we are off...this is about a mile into the race.
Jackie Robinson mural. I have been on Broad Street several times. Never noticed this before.
Probably about 3 miles into the race
Just passed the 5 mile marker. The only obstacle is City Hall, which we have to run around to get to the other side. We are now in down town center city Philadelphia.
The Kimmel Center. Paul Simon is coming next month. I learned that today as I ran past this. Needless to say, I started singing Paul Simon songs to myself...."She's got Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes....Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes."
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| The Kimmel Center |
One of the fire departments were out cheering on the runners. I thought that was very cool.
Now, this below picture, I don't know what this building is. It looked cool though, and it feels like there is something important inside of it. Maybe the secret to the Davinci Code. I dunno. Anyways, thought I would snap a shot.
Passing the sports complex, one mile to go!!!
Finally, entering "The Navy Yard"...about 1/4 mile to go.
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| Entering the Navy Yard |
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| Finish line in the Navy Yard |
Apparently, this is new this year to the Broad Street Run...really sweet finisher medals.
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| Finisher medal |
Stuck around for about a 1/2 hour after the race. Didn't want to sit down and stiffen up. I walked back to the car at the Wells Fargo Center and took off. Of course it took 35 minutes to get out (since Broad Street was shut down) but thats ok. Sure enough I was very stiff when I got out of the car at home.
Of course, I couldn't resist getting in a pic with the boys.
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| Nathan and I |
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| Christopher and I |
What an awesome race. Can't wait to do it again next year!!!
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